What does this phrase mean "you can't love someone else without loving yourself" ?

Question

What does this phrase mean "you can't love someone else without loving yourself" ?

Answer 1

It means that you first must love who you are before trying to love another person.  A relationship takes work.  It takes giving of yourself and making sacrifices and compromises.  So if you start with a "broken you", how effective can you be to someone else?  You will just become a serious burden to someone else and nobody will want to be with you or it is also grounds for someone to be abusive to you.  Many people who have low self-esteem end up with people who beat up on them or verbally abuse them because they don't feel they deserve better.  

Answer 2

you can't give something you don't have. so if you don't have love in yourself, how do you expect to be able to give it to someone else?

Answer 3

you have to love yourself in order to love someone....